Adept Series 4: A Ghost In The House
by shadowglove
Summary: Sequel to Circle. When Booth calls her because his son has reported seeing a ghost in his new home, Chloe comes because not only is Booth her friend and needs help, but because she'd feeling suffocated at NCIS...and because she needs to make a decision.


**Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville or Bones. Obviously.**

Sequel to: Circle

Written for my Paranormal25 150 Prompt Table. Prompt of the day # 18: **EVP.**

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"You know, you're kinda awesome for an old woman." Parker Booth informed her seriously. "Only other cool old person I know is Temperance."

Chloe bit down on her bottom lip to keep from bursting out laughing.

She was only eighteen years old.

Then again, that was probably ancient for an eight year old.

"And _you're _not so bad either, kiddo." Chloe ruffled his hair affectionately, continuing to set up the things in the room.

"So this is going to pick up the ghost here." Parker went over the information again.

"If there's a spirit here that you really hear talking during the nights, these microphones I have everywhere are going to definitely pick up the voices. Also, I've installed cameras that are both night vision and some others are sensitive to movement, so if anything moves in here we'll pick it up."

"Awesome." Parker declared, shoving a potato chip into his mouth.

"It's not _awesome_." Agent Seeley Booth, his father, mumbled as he leaned his hip in the doorway.

"Yes, it _is_ dad." Parker exclaimed, completely excited. "You should have seen it! Its eyes were out of its sockets and hanging by like muscle or something! It was the most awesome thing ever!"

Booth paled.

Chloe smirked as she looked up at him. "Scared?"

He scoffed. "As if."

"Dad's not scared, he's a hero." Parker told her seriously. "He could kick this ghost's butt!"

Booth smiled softly, eyes on his kid, obviously brimming with pride over the confidence Parker had in him.

Those two loved each other to heart warming degrees.

Chloe couldn't help but feel warm and cozy deep inside whenever she saw them together, which was unfortunately, not very often. "Why don't you two go out and do something while I finish rigging this whole house, huh? You two probably don't wanna be cooped up in here with nothing to do."

"No way!" Parker turned to her, eyes wide. "This is _awesome_! I wanna see everything you do and know how to do it." He leaned in closer. "I used to want to be like my dad when I grow up, but now I want to hunt ghosts too!"

"Oh boy." Seeley murmured.

"This isn't like Ghostbusters, you know." Chloe warned the kid. "It's dangerous."

"_Cool_." Parker grinned brightly.

"Hey buddy, why don't you go get something for Chloe to drink?" Booth asked. "She must be thirsty."

"Okay." The kid smiled before rushing out.

Booth turned to her, hands shucked in his pockets. "Thanks for coming here on such short notice. I-if it wasn't for the fact that I helped you put down a _mummy_ in the Jeffersonian-I would have just dismissed his stories. But after everything that happened, and the fact that I just moved into this house, well, I don't want something to happen to my boy just because I had a closed mind or something."

"It was no problem, Booth, and you know that if you or anyone else from the Jeffersonian needs me then I'm just a telephone call away." The blonde stood, brushing her hands on her jeans. "Anyway, I was itching to get away from D.C. for a bit. After the whole Coyote thing dad's had me under a tight leash, his overprotectiveness has risen to a ridiculous degree." She sighed. "I was going to have to punch him soon if I didn't get away for a while."

"Well, you're always welcomed here." Booth gave her that smile that wet women's panties worldwide.

"You're such a whore." Chloe teased, going to check on the microphones and cameras she had just finished installing in Parker's bedroom.

"I take offense at that!" Booth laughed, coming into the room.

"Remember, I'm friends with Angela, I know the score on the notches in your bedpost." Chloe threw him a mischievous grin over her shoulder. "I _know_ that the bedposts are all nicked and you've had to start on the _wall_."

"Ouch. That hurts." Booth came up besides her, looking down at what she was doing. "It hasn't been _that_ many."

"It's _enough_ to know that _you_ are a manwhore, and I don't want my first _consensual_ time with someone to be with a man who is really pinning after Dr. Brennan and using me as a replacement."

Silence fell over them for two very obvious reasons.

One was the mention of Bones, the woman that Booth had been in love with for a very long time and yet nothing had ever come from it, not even after he'd confessed his feelings to her.

The other was the mention of Lionel Luthor, and the terrible things Chloe had had to endure while his captive.

Booth only knew because the mummy they'd been battling had been the body of a psychic, and it had shown them each other's hardest kept secrets in an attempt to disorient and confuse them-to give it time to attack.

Chloe knew things Booth had never told anyone and Booth knew details not even _Gabe_ did.

It'd bonded them.

It was also nice to be able to speak about this with someone who already knew _everything_.

Booth sighed and hugged her from behind, warm and comforting, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

Chloe's smile was sad yet genuine as she placed her hands on the ones he wrapped around her, sinking into his heat, accepting the comfort he offered her.

"How's the search going?" Booth asked softly.

Chloe gulped, looking down at the extra microphone in her hand.

There were _still_ things Booth knew that no one else did.

Even though Reid was her psychiatrist she still had yet to work her way up to the courage to speak about these things, to break the news to people.

With Booth she didn't need to because he already knew.

He knew every dark secret in her mind.

So it made it easier to talk about things she felt she couldn't with others.

Like this.

"Not very good." Chloe admitted, curling her fingers over the microphone. "There's no one I can find who fits the criteria."

"So what? You're going to remain with that bond with Luthor? Can't you just, I don't know, break it and when you find someone you can transfer it to you do it?" Booth growled.

"Nope." Chloe shook her head. "My connection with him is what's helping keep me sane, and alive, and grounded. I need to find someone strong enough, able and capable and _willing_, and transfer the bond to _him_. I can't just sever it because...I'm scared of not only dying-but if I don't and I lose my connection to humanity? With the knowledge I have in me-I could end the world."

"Lionel Luthor isn't a link to humanity." Booth argued. "There's no way you could be worse without a connection to him."

"There is, actually. Those skulls Coyote forced me to absorb-they were all of the skulls of previous Adepts who just couldn't handle everything." Chloe admitted, sighing. "That's why I had to stand in the middle, to officially take my place as Adept. It's easy to die of cerebral overload-or just go _insane_." She turned her head slightly to look at him. "On my better days I'm half crazy...and that's that I now have Reid to talk to...even if its through skype."

"Right, Dr. Spencer Reid." Booth nodded, letting go and leaning against the wall. "I've had him checked out, and he seems like a decent enough human being. Capable as well. He's probably younger than even _Sweets_."

"How _is_ Lance doing?" Chloe asked, a smile tilting her lips at the memory of the young psychiatrist who'd joined the team after the mummy incident, thus didn't know about the truth of what she did since the Jeffersonian team were not permitted to speak of the classified incident to anyone.

"The thing with Daisy fizzled out, so he's reacquainting himself with Jazz and the Blues...its depressing to go into his office." Booth mumbled. "But he refuses to admit that he's not taking the second break up well, so I'm just waiting for him to come to me."

"You're like his _father_." Chloe snickered.

He glared at her. "I am not _that_ old."

"No, I'm serious, he takes you and Bones as his mother and father." Chloe turned towards him. "It's why he's always so weird around me. He thinks I'm going to take daddy away from mommy."

"He weird around you because he wants in your _pants_." Booth corrected.

Chloe smirked at that. "Well, all he had to do was _ask_."

Booth raised an eyebrow at her. "Am I going to have to have a conversation with Special Agent Gibbs about you and our psychiatrist?"

"You seethe with jealousy I see." She joked, noticing movement behind them, turning in time to see Parker returning with a large glass of coke. "Thanks honey."

Parker just smiled as he passed it to her, before leaning against his father.

Booth smiled and placed his hand on his son's shoulder.

The three of them continued to talk as Chloe finished installing her gear, and then her monitoring computers in the attic, and by the time she was finished the pizza they'd ordered had arrived and they all relaxed on the sofas watching some family oriented movie that taught kids good values and yet proved entertaining for adults as well.

As she took a sip of her drink, Chloe watched Booth and Parker, smiling softly to herself.

It was obvious that those two adored each other.

Booth was incredible.

And if it wasn't for the fact that there was obviously still unresolved issues with Bones Chloe would tap that.

Booth was everything she would want in her first time lover, and he knew what Lionel had done to her while she was his captive. Booth would make sure to make her first consensual time was a wonderful memory.

But Chloe had no intention of trying to come between people with unresolved romantic issues...she'd learnt her lesson in high school with Clark and Lana.

And when she finally found someone worthy for her to face her demons (this time emotionally) and finally sleep with him...to face her nightmares and instead fill them with dreams and fantasies...she wanted to know with all her heart that she was the only one he thought of or felt for.

It was that reason that made it easy to be only friends with Seeley Booth.

And as she lay in the guest room, all snug and cozy, she didn't think _once_ of sneaking into his room.

She couldn't sleep, but that wasn't a surprise.

She'd been having a harder time than usual ever since absorbing the knowledge of the skulls.

Her connection and bond to Lionel had never been strong because she hadn't been willing when the bond had been created, but absorbing that knowledge had opened her further to the Adept inside of her, to the power source, and that power source called on her bond. That source fed off of her bond, and it was trying to strengthen it so it too could grow strong. And because of that, whenever she fell asleep, her subconscious took control and opened up a channel between her and her bonder.

Chloe preferred never to sleep again.

But she was tired, irritable, and considering accepting Azazel's offer to kill Lionel.

If it wasn't for the fact that she knew the demon would either try to force her to accept his as bonder...or someone else equally as unacceptable...she probably would have accepted.

She was getting that desperate.

She needed to find someone.

A new bonder.

One who fit the requirements.

And she needed to find said person fast.

It didn't need to be a guy per se, but considering that she would have to have sex with the person as part of the binding ceremony, and Chloe had never really found herself particularly attracted to women, well...yes...it would have to be a man.

A very mentally strong man.

He would have to be her rock.

Her foundation.

He couldn't be Dr. Reid.

Chloe really liked Spencer, she could talk to him and he'd listen and he was fascinated. He didn't make her feel like a freak and he was probably just as awkward as she was. He was sweet and kind and she enjoyed skyping him.

But he couldn't be her bonder.

The fact that he might one day become schizophrenic and unstable prevented him from even being able to be a candidate.

She was volatile and unsteady as it was.

Every day she walked the fine line between genius and insanity.

She needed someone who could be her rock and pull her back to safety, forcefully, if need be.

Chloe really didn't have many options.

Tony was in love with Ziva even if he refused to admit it.

McGee and Abby were destined for each other, and Chloe refused to think otherwise.

Booth was never going to love anyone the way he loved Bones-and Bones made him a better person just like he made her a _person_, period.

Gibbs was her father.

Vance was married.

Ducky was a love but he was way too old and that would be like having sex with her father.

Eew.

Palmer...no way he could be her rock if she needed him.

Plus he had that crush on Abby.

The only other person Chloe could think of was John Winchester...but he was never around _and_ he was old enough to be her father _and_ he had his own problems and quest in life.

So that left her with no one.

Nada.

Zip.

It made Chloe depressed to realize that she seriously had no life.

The only guys she knew...she knew because of job related meetings.

There was not _one guy_ in her life that she'd just met at a coffee shop or something!

The thought continued to bother her all night, and early morning, when the skies began to light up with the rising sun, she got out of bed and went to the attic, stopping the recording.

She'd made herself some coffee, toasted some bread, spread margarine on it and then went upstairs to go over the data collected.

She first went over the video footage of all over the house, as she sipped the coffee. There were some very interesting findings, but what was most interesting was an audio file that'd been picked up in Parker's room.

"Tell me you got some sleep."

Chloe looked up, pulling off the earphones and smiling at Booth as he watched her from the doorway. "Morning. What are you doing up? It's still early."

"I could say the same to you." Booth declared as he entered the room and went to sit down next to her. "So. Did you find anything?"

She made a face. "I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"

"Definitely bad." Booth sighed, stealing her mug of coffee and taking a sip.

"You have a ghost." Chloe informed him. "I have video footage of him all around the house. And audio files of him speaking as well."

Booth frowned, straightening in the seat and crossing himself. "Dear god."

"_Good_ news is that the ghost was tidying up the house, making sure doors were locked, windows closed, and looking after Parker." Chloe pressed a button, and they could hear Parker crying in his sleep.

A distorted, unfamiliar voice murmured barely audible in the recording: "_Shhh. Just a dream. It's a nightmare. Wake up."_

Booth dropped the mug.

"_Hey_!" Chloe cried, horrified at the waste of good coffee.

"Wow, I, I've never heard-I can't believe-," he ran his hand over his head. "What about the eyes out of the sockets thing that Parker was talking about?"

"I think the ghost did it to amuse Parker, if anything your boy was fascinated by it, not scared." Chloe pointed out.

Booth gulped. "Oh boy."

The blonde smiled. "All evidence indicates this is a benevolent, if not slightly mischievous spirit. Parker seems to amuse it just as much as it amuses him. It's harmless."

"What if this amusement turns to obsession or something?" Booth wanted to know, eyes narrowed.

"Then you call me and I'll get rid of it." Chloe promised. "If it'd shown any signs of aggressiveness of hostility I'd be already getting together what I need to banish it, but it hasn't shown any malevolent energy and it _did_ used to live here before you..."

"I can't believe you're trying to talk me into keeping a pet ghost!" Booth grumbled, folding his arms over his chest.

The blonde smiled at him. "It'll keep you on your toes. And imagine Bones when she finds out! She'll first want to discredit this because even after the mummy issue she's still on the fence with the supernatural since it can't be scientifically proven. She'll probably camp out in your living room, the anthropologist in her wanting to study the ghost or something once she sees it doing something and she realizes it's actually there and real."

Booth snorted. "I can actually see her doing that."

"And maybe you could use that time, now that you and Hannah are over and you and Bones know you two have feelings for each other, to get yourselves on the right track." Chloe decided.

Booth gave her an odd look. "You're the only woman I know who has ever tried to push me onto some other woman."

She grinned at him. "Yes, well, I can't be here all the time to take care of you, and Bones is the only woman I can think of who can keep an eye on you and protect you."

"Why do I need protection?" Booth pouted. "I _am_ the guy here you know!"

Chloe just sighed and leaned her head against his arm.

He leaned his cheek on the crown of her head.

They sat together in silence like that lost in their own thoughts.

Chloe knew that she'd come there to help Seeley, but the trip had also given her some time and space to think as well.

She needed to seriously start a search for a new, _permanent_ bonder.

But just where the hell was she going to find a guy who met her lengthy criteria?

And just wait until Gibbs found out.

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**Review?**


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